Liveability ranking

Urban idylls

Vancouver remains the most liveable city; Harare is still intolerable

With a rating of almost 100, Vancouver is the world's most liveable city according to the Economist Intelligence Unit's latest liveability ranking (see full report). The city, which will host the Winter Olympics in 2010, achieves the best possible score for all indicators, with the exception of prevalence of petty crime. Canada and Australia perform strongly because they benefit from good infrastructure, plenty of recreational activities and relatively low population density. The threat of violence and instability puts half of the ten lowest scores in Africa, and continuing strife in Zimbabwe keeps Harare in last position.

The Economist Intelligence Unit's liveability rating quantifies the challenges that might be presented to an individual's lifestyle in 140 cities worldwide. Each city is assigned a score for over 30 qualitative and quantitative factors across five broad categories: stability, health care, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure. The categories are compiled and weighted to provide an overall rating of 1–100, where 1 is considered intolerable and 100 is considered ideal.